Degrassi co-creator Linda Schuyler is being recognized with the Female Eye Maverick Award.

The prize is a newly created honour by the Female Eye Film Festival, an annual Toronto showcase of features, short films and documentaries by female directors.

Festival director Leslie Ann Coles says Schuyler is being celebrated as "one of the most successful, innovative and progressive women" in the TV industry.

Schuyler is best known for co-creating and executive producing the "Degrassi" series including "The Kids of Degrassi Street," "Degrassi Junior High," "Degrassi Talks" and "Degrassi: The Next Generation."

She also produced the series "Instant Star," "Liberty Street" and "Riverdale."

Schuyler will be presented with the award March 26. The festival runs March 25 to 29.

This year's roster includes the U.K. feature "Cwcw," about a woman whose attempt to escape from her intolerable life ends in madness; the U.K. documentary "She Should Have Gone to the Moon," about Jerri Truhill, one of NASA's first female astronauts; and "What I See When I Close My Eyes," a Canadian documentary by actress Leslie Ann Hope ("24," "The District") about street kids in Phnom Penh.